Children's Books discussion

Raise your hand if you remember learning that poetry rhymes. My hand stays down, but my husband, older than I by 8 years, is convinced that rhymes are the primary marker... because that's how he learned poetry in school.

Raise your hand if you learned about haikus, cinquains, acrostics, and similar tightly structured poems by writing from models. This is what I learned. I recall only a few units in all my public school years... never an incorporation into other subjects, never even advanced work in the upper grades. (Except we did read an excerpt from Beowulf in World Lit.)

If you've not raised your hand yet, how did you learn about poetry when you were a child?

Do you ever read or write poetry just for fun now? Or does it feel like something you "should" do more? I mostly read poetry to feel as if I'm doing something enriching, like exercise for my brain. I'd love to just plain enjoy it more.

I do enjoy a lot of children's poetry when I make the effort to pick some up. And I love Mary Oliver, esp. Why I Wake Early. And the Poetry for Young People: series, which is really for all ages. But I don't take the simple pleasure in it that some do. And I've written very little since school.

I hope some of you have some inspirational comments to share!

Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades: 20 Poems and Activities That Meet the Common Core Standards and Cultivate a Passion for Poetry:

I like that he says he chose the poems to accessible but not easy. Easy poems would be passively received, and forgotten when the term was over. Poems that require engagement are more likely to have an actual impact on the reader.

And the comparison to a car's engine - all the parts working together "should make the poem purr, snarl, crackle, laugh, rumble, or roar."

All that was in the introduction.

When we were learning poetry (in Calgary, Alberta), not only were we in grade seven and eight bombarded with poetic terms and devices, but basically ALL the poems we read and ALL the poems we were made to write had to rhyme (and had to include the specific poetic devices being taught, but with free verse poetry not being allowed at all and pretty roundly denigrated by our English teachers). This did change a bit during high school and definitely at university, but learning poetry by rote and being forced to only write poetry that rhymes (and also often needing to reflect themes chosen by our teachers) did kind of make me not that enamoured of poetry as a genre (that is until I realised at university that poetry is not something where only one form etc. exists and that writing poetry is something personal as well and not something that only follows certain rules and paths).

I first discovered poetry at about the age of 4 ( just learned to read), and saw a poster with a poem by Paul van Ostaijen at the local library. He uses typography and word placements as part of his poetry, and it looked just fascinating to me. My mom helped me read some of his work, then.

Poetry structures were well-covered in school, with at least a unit per year for Dutch (and usually more), from klas 1 (5-6 years old) through to high school. We got taught very early poetry doesn't always rhyme, as Guido Gezelle was part of the curriculum.

My baby boy has been confronted with poetry since day 1, as I either recite 'Slaap' (sleep) by van Ostaijen, or 'Poppetjes op de ruit" (dolls on the window) by Lea Smolders to him every night 😅

I don't remember learning about poetry in school, although I must have.
I read poetry when I'm in the mood for it. I don't write it.

Wow, what a variety of responses, how interesting!

I gave Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades: 20 Poems and Activities That Meet the Common Core Standards and Cultivate a Passion for Poetry four stars.

Could be titled more like "teaching language arts via poetry...." The author is a teacher, and does know what is required & valued in today's classrooms. And he makes it plain that poetry is not an optional bonus, but can be used to engage the primary goals of Common Core*, and the goals that motivate people to become teachers of helping young people grow to be happier & better citizens.**

I like that he says he chose the poems to accessible but not easy. Easy poems would be passively received, and forgotten when the term was over. Poems that require engagement are more likely to have an actual impact on the reader.

And the comparison to a car's engine - all the parts working together "should make the poem purr, snarl, crackle, laugh, rumble, or roar."

All that was in the introduction.

Now, reading the poems, I see how wonderful it would be to teach from the book. So many *excellent* ideas for each. Even though I'm no longer teaching, I'm still enjoying skimming his insights into these poems, and my to-read lists are growing!

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson is one I definitely want to find. Certainly *Friends in the Klan* is, with its snapshot of Very Important History (starts "Black veterans of WWI experienced such discrimination in veterans' hospitals...) and its final line ("The Professor stayed. And he prayed for his friend in the Klan.")

I also want to investigate The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly, Meow: Cat Stories from Around the World, Finest Kind...

I loved the theme of *Seeing the World* by Steven Herrick. It's one of my favorites, after all - another point of view, a different perspective, will shine a light on our own experience and help us get along peacefully & productively with the other inhabitants of this small world.

Skimming carefully so I'll be able to honestly rate. And finding lots of little tidbits. Senryu are like haikus but about people, not nature, and often therefore witty or funny.

Very highly recommended to parents and other educators. And to those of you who want to spend more time with some great poems and a mentor.

*See inspirational charts.

**Well, at least that was my goal when I undertook my degree in Education.

Blank Space: A story about reading for 7-10 year old reluctant readers by Beth Bacon is arguably an example of concrete poetry.

Do you like concrete poetry? Or do you prefer cinquains, haiku, villanelle, sonnets, free verse, or something else?

I never really got poetry when I was in school. As I got older I discovered what an amazing tool poetry is for summarising a moment that other mediums cannot. I found it has helped me a lot. The less rules the better for me, as that's the way my brain likes it.

Poetry as a tool... I never thought of it that way, but I like it!

I would definitely say that even though Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse and its sequel Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse are graphic novels and tell a story, the way that Tamara Will Wissinger presents these stories as examples of specific poetic forms (and which are explained at the back) make both books a fun educational tool for teaching and perhaps also for learning how to write poetry.

Thanks, those are intriguing and I'm sure you're right to include them!

I gave Explosion at the Poem Factory

Best for parents and other educators to share with children age about 7 and up. Or for adults who are young at heart. Such a fun way to learn so much about poetry; a great companion to other texts like What Is Poetry?: The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems and others.

It's also a prescient exploration of the state of AI in 2023. Now a machine can, indeed, write lots of acceptable poetry. But, as the characters in the story noted after the explosion,
"There were fewer poems than before. Plenty of Kilmer's students overused hyperbole and empty cliches. Far too many forced through an uncomfortable rhyme scheme. But even the simplest stanza had within it a beating heart."

I'm not sure how many folks will read Thanku: Poems of Gratitude 'for fun.' But given that the format of each poem is given on the poem's page, and explained in the back matter, it'd be a great book for teaching poetry. So many formats are avl. to kids besides haikus and acrostics! Each poet is also given a mini-bio.

I just enjoyed The Poem That Will Not End, a story in verse about an active boy who got hooked on writing poems. Plenty of back matter, and bright, lively illustrations. Picture-book format, for parents & other educators, and school-age children who have at least basic writing skills. Fun and funny!

I just came across a nice poem A Bad Case of Sneezes by Bruce Lansky. Its about a child suffering from cough and cold and presented it as an excuse to the teacher for not doing well in spelling test:

https://youtube.com/shorts/wLF32HFs8_M

When I was in school in the 60s poetry instruction meant being given a copy of Palgrave's Golden Treasury, to be returned to the teacher at the end of each lesson, and taking it in turns to recite from the big names of British romantic poetry. It was a good introduction though the main aim was to commit poems to memory in order to pass the Eng. Lit. exam.

Later in the Sixth Form - I don't know the American equivalent, 16-year-olds - we had a teacher who began by asking everyone, "What is poetry?" He probably didn't expect an intelligent answer, a poetry professor would struggle to provide one, but he did introduce me to Dylan Thomas and the Mersey Sound poets (Roger McGough, Adrian Henri, Brian Patten) and opened the poetical door wide. That is, the British door, back then that was all that mattered in UK schools apart from, perhaps, The Song of Hiawatha.

Unfortunately I have no talent for poetry myself. I tried writing poems when I was younger and the girls they were aimed at laughed at them and passed them to their mates to giggle at. It put me off. But I still love reading Thomas. Fern Hill will always send me into raptures of memory of summer holidays and being young. And Wordsworth is not bad, apart from the daffodils.